The exemplary embodiment relates to the field of image processing. It finds particular application in connection with a method for incorporating an inset into a digital image, and is described with particular reference thereto.
In composing images, insets are sometimes employed to add visual information. An inset is a small image contained within the borders of a larger one. One reason for using insets is that the physical space for visualizing an image is often limited. This is generally the case in printed documents, such as newspapers and journals, where articles compete for space, and also in electronic documents, especially when rendered on handheld devices where display sizes are usually small. As a result, image size often has to be reduced. Thus, while the sensors used in digital cameras are increasingly allowing greater and greater amounts of image data to be acquired (typically expressed in mega pixels), much of this image data is wasted when the image is incorporated into a document. Additionally, important detail may be lost. For example, facial details, which are often of interest to a viewer, are frequently blurred.
In the press, insets have been to bring to the attention of the user, details of the image that are considered informative and that would not be easily visible in the original image, such as people's faces. The process of identifying an appropriate region of an image, resizing it, and incorporating it as an inset into a larger image is time consuming, labor intensive, and typically requires considerable skill.
The exemplary embodiment provides a system and method for generating an inset which overcome these problems, and others.